Buried
by Allana
Summary: Years after leaving Roswell, someone comes to visit Liz...
1. Buried

Title: Buried  
Author: Allana  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Years after Liz leaves Roswell, someone comes to visit…  
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell. Jason Katims and the WB do. The quotes come from   
Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities". Read it sometime, it's interesting.  
Dedication: Thanks Jo!!!!! Also to my "acquaintance", Chaz Dickens, for the   
inspiration.  
Spoilers: There is a spoiler out there that says that Alex is going to die ::SOB!::. That's   
included in this, but I hope I didn't ruin anyone's day by saying that.   
  
  
["Buried how long?"  
  
"Almost eighteen years."]  
  
  
Liz woke up to a dark, drizzly morning in Chicago. It was going to be another   
dull day, one without love or pain. No feeling at all was best, she thought. She didn't   
care whether or not it was sunny or rainy out.   
  
She hurriedly cleaned up her apartment and gathered the materials for the   
continuation of her case. As hard as some prosecuting attorneys were, she was perfect   
for the job. She never got personally involved with her cases. Nevertheless, she didn't   
feel happy with her occupation, either. She had abandoned science long ago. Anything   
that made her feel joy would eventually cause her pain.  
  
All throughout the day, she listened to and participated in arguments considering   
the guilt of a man who supposedly killed his wife. "I didn't kill her!" he would yell at the   
jury. "I loved her!" Then he would burst into tears.   
  
Liz remained indifferent. All of the evidence pointed to him, so that was all she   
cared about. It was probably just a big act, anyway. Love, after all, is like a game…  
  
  
["You had given up all hope of being dug out?"  
  
"Long ago."]  
  
  
Late that night, Liz woke up from another nightmare. The fear only got to her for   
a few moments, then she calmed down and slipped into another troubled sleep.   
  
FLASH. The Skins coming after her. All connected with the Royal Four would   
be killed. It was what loving Max had brought her. She was going to die from a war that   
didn't have anything to do with Earth, except that the aliens had landed there and were   
pursued by their enemies. FLASH. Max was holding her, telling her it was going to be   
all right. He made the Skins go away. "I won't let you die, Liz." FLASH.  
  
Liz woke up again. She didn't quite remember the dream, but she felt a terrible   
longing for something. Something she once had. Then she thought, what's the use?   
Whatever it is that I want, I seem to be living just fine without it. She relaxed and drifted   
off to her hidden torment.  
  
The next morning dawned brightly. Liz got up and got dressed, readying for   
another hectic day in court. After finishing a bland breakfast of toast, someone knocked   
on her door. Curious as to why someone would visit her at that hour, she tentatively   
undid the catch and opened the door. What she saw on the other side of the threshold   
caused her to reel backward and nearly faint.   
  
"Max!" she gasped.  
  
  
["I hope you know that you are recalled to life?"  
  
"They tell me so."]  
  
  
"Liz," he replied, sadness and hope in his soulful brown eyes.   
  
He had no roses, no mariachi band, nothing but himself. Liz felt a mix of warmth,   
emptiness and longing running through her abdomen. She began to shake, slightly. "It's   
been almost eighteen years, hasn't it?" she asked.   
  
"Since you left Roswell." Max looked down awkwardly at the floor before   
venturing to meet her gaze again. "May I come in?"  
  
Liz started. "Oh, yes, of course." She stepped aside enough for him to enter and   
closed the door behind him. She seated him on her black leather couch and took a place   
on the other side of it. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to see you. To… to see how you were."  
  
"I'm fine, Max. Has much happened since I've been gone?"  
  
Max sighed. "The war is escalating. All of us are still alive, but all of us have   
scars. Not just physical ones, either." He diverted his eyes for a moment. "Michael and   
Maria are married, and Kyle and Tess are certainly thinking about it. Isabel feels so   
lonely, ever since… Alex died."   
  
Liz remembered. It had been a car accident. A stupid car accident…  
  
"Alex," she whispered softly.   
  
"Liz, I know that I don't really have any right to ask you this, but…"  
  
"Max, please don't…."  
  
"Please come back to Roswell with me. We need you. Maria's nearly going   
crazy worrying over you. Liz, I can't just… I can't live without you. It's too painful."  
  
The feeling was something in between her heart leaping and a dagger being   
stabbed through it. She feared the dagger more than she loved the leaping. "It's too   
painful for me to love. I've learned to deal with it. At least this way, I'll stay alive. I'm   
safe here, don't you understand? I have a good job, a good place to live, and I'm   
respected. I'm not about to go to the crusades with you and get myself killed. Is that   
what you want?"  
  
Max looked down at the floor again, almost as if he were going to cry. He slowly   
got to his feet. "Like I said, I didn't have the right to ask you. I'm sorry, Liz." He   
walked with his shoulders hunched and paused at the door. He turned around once and   
stared at her intently, as if to search her heart or re-memorize her face. Then he left,   
closing the door behind him.   
  
Liz felt mixed emotions. Then her obstinance dropped and she felt a deep sense   
of regret. What had she done now? She had re-cut into Max's old scar and *watched* it   
bleed. And now it was too late to go back…  
  
Liz ran into her kitchen with her head in her hands and opened the knife drawer.  
  
Outside, the sun had clouded over and looked as if it might rain.  
  
  
["I hope you care to live."  
  
"I can't say."]   
  
  
A/N: For those of you who don't get it, I'm not telling you whether or not Liz is going to   
kill herself.   



	2. Recalled to Life

Title: "Recalled to Life"  
Author: Allana  
Rating: PG-13 for violence   
Summary: Sequel to "Buried", or the exciting conclusion to "Buried".  
Dedication: To Jo, by beta reader, and to those who asked if there was more. Here it is   
?.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell, and Mr. Charles Dickens should get some credit for   
the inspiration. The first book of his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is also called "Recalled   
to Life".   
  
The knife came down. Liz felt it bite through her stomach, slicing through each   
muscle fiber. She felt the cold air sucking her warm life through the wound. Blood   
spilled over her hands as she held the knife firmly in place. She did not scream. There   
was only the utterance of a low moan as she slumped to the floor. By now, she was in a   
puddle of her own blood, feeling her life sap away… She didn't want to feel any more   
pain.   
  
Her vision began to blur, not to black or white, but lavender. Lavender stars,   
floating in V-shaped constellations over her head. Lavender music, twisting through her   
ears with tunes of "I Shall Believe." Then she saw Max's face, looking the way it did the   
day he saved her life at the Crashdown, desperate and deeply concerned. Oh, his soulful   
brown eyes…  
  
*I'll die with a happy memory,* she though vaguely.  
  
"Liz, look at me."  
  
She was drowning, but the voice was pulling her back towards the surface. She   
felt a warm hand at the back of her head. Liz blinked.  
  
The image of Max came more into focus. She was shocked at the sudden   
realization that he was actually there. She felt him pull the knife from her hands and out   
of her abdomen. Once again, his hand was on her bare stomach, covering the wound.   
Once again, she was being brought back by an alien. Once again, they exchanged   
flashes.  
  
From Liz to Max: Eighteen years of numbness, not caring from day to day. Of   
course, only the days were numb. After the set of day, there came the nightmares and the   
longing, the only time when she admitted to herself that she was lost. She had needed   
Max constantly for eighteen years.  
  
From Max to Liz: Eighteen years of loneliness, trying to stay brave for his family   
and friends. At night he barely slept, thinking of Liz and praying that she was all right.   
He had needed Liz constantly for eighteen years…  
  
Liz felt the wound close and the pain cease, though she still felt dizzy from the   
loss of blood. She smiled weakly at Max before she passed out, exhausted. It was the   
first time she'd smiled and meant it, in eighteen years.   
  
Max repositioned himself behind Liz and gently pulled her small frame onto his   
lap and cradled her in his arms. He held her close. He wasn't going to let her go again.   
Strong fingers lovingly touched her stomach, which now showed a silver handprint.  
  
A few moments later, Liz awoke. For a while she said nothing, but simply leaned   
her head upon Max's chest, savoring the feeling she had withheld from herself for   
eighteen years. She finally said, "I was wrong to leave."  
  
"I was wrong to let you go," came the reply.   
  
Yet there was still an old weight to be lifted.  
  
"Max, I have to tell you something."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I'm still a virgin."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Max carried Liz out of the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas. It was just like the visions   
they had had of that moment. Liz hastily threw her lavender and white rose bouquet,   
which was caught by Tess. The newlyweds got into a waiting taxi, bombarded with   
showers of rice from Kyle, Tess (who wore an engagement ring), Isabel, Michael, Maria,   
and Alex, their three-year-old son.   
  
And Max and Liz's lives were truly beginning again, because they had been   
"recalled to life."   



	3. Recalled to Life (alternate ending)

Title: "Recalled to Life"  
Author: Allana  
Rating: PG-13 for violence   
Summary: Sequel to "Buried", or the exciting conclusion to "Buried".  
Dedication: To Jo, by beta reader, and to those who asked if there was more. Here it is   
?.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell, and Mr. Charles Dickens should get some credit for   
the inspiration. The first book of his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is also called "Recalled   
to Life".   
  
The knife came down. Liz felt it bite through her stomach, slicing through each   
muscle fiber. She felt the cold air sucking her warm life through the wound. Blood   
spilled over her hands as she held the knife firmly in place. She did not scream. There   
was only the utterance of a low moan as she slumped to the floor. By now, she was in a   
puddle of her own blood, feeling her life sap away… She didn't want to feel any more   
pain.   
  
Her vision began to blur, not to black or white, but lavender. Lavender stars,   
floating in V-shaped constellations over her head. Lavender music, twisting through her   
ears with tunes of "I Shall Believe." Then she saw Max's face, looking the way it did the   
day he saved her life at the Crashdown, desperate and deeply concerned. Oh, his soulful   
brown eyes…  
  
*I'll die with a happy memory,* she though vaguely.  
  
"Liz, look at me."  
  
She was drowning, but the voice was pulling her back towards the surface. She   
felt a warm hand at the back of her head. Liz blinked.  
  
The image of Max came more into focus. She was shocked at the sudden   
realization that he was actually there. She felt him pull the knife from her hands and out   
of her abdomen. Once again, his hand was on her bare stomach, covering the wound.   
Once again, she was being brought back by an alien. Once again, they exchanged   
flashes.  
  
From Liz to Max: Eighteen years of numbness, not caring from day to day. Of   
course, only the days were numb. After the set of day, there came the nightmares and the   
longing, the only time when she admitted to herself that she was lost. She had needed   
Max constantly for eighteen years.  
  
From Max to Liz: Eighteen years of loneliness, trying to stay brave for his family   
and friends. At night he barely slept, thinking of Liz and praying that she was all right.   
He had needed Liz constantly for eighteen years…  
  
Liz felt the wound close and the pain cease, though she still felt dizzy from the   
loss of blood. She smiled weakly at Max before she passed out, exhausted. It was the   
first time she'd smiled and meant it, in eighteen years.   
  
Max repositioned himself behind Liz and gently pulled her small frame onto his   
lap and cradled her in his arms. He held her close. He wasn't going to let her go again.   
Strong fingers lovingly touched her stomach, which now showed a silver handprint.  
  
A few moments later, Liz awoke. For a while she said nothing, but simply leaned   
her head upon Max's chest, savoring the feeling she had withheld from herself for   
eighteen years. She finally said, "I was wrong to leave."  
  
"I was wrong to let you go," came the reply.   
  
Yet there was still an old weight to be lifted.  
  
"Max, I have to tell you something."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I'm still a virgin."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Max carried Liz out of the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas. It was just like the visions   
they had had of that moment. Liz hastily threw her lavender and white rose bouquet,   
which was caught by Tess. The newlyweds got into a waiting taxi, bombarded with   
showers of rice from Kyle, Tess (who wore an engagement ring), Isabel, Michael, Maria,   
and Alex, their three-year-old son.   
  
~~*~~  
  
The vision ended. Liz didn't need to be told. She was sinking again, and it was   
too late for Max to save her now. Faintly, she heard him scream her name. She wanted   
to stay, but she couldn't. She had to leave…  
  
"I'm sorry, Max," she gasped. "So sorry…" Her voice faded and echoed in   
Max's head. The love of his life was gone. Without a word, he picked up her knife and   
stabbed himself as well.   
  
"See you on the other side."  



End file.
